Top seven Minnesota golf courses I’d like to play in 2007:

• Giants Ridge, Biwabik
• Somerby, Byron
• Somerset, Mendota Heights
• Town and Country, St. Paul
• White Bear Yacht Club, White Bear Lake
• Wilderness at Fortune Bay, Tower
• Windsong Farm, Independence

Top seven non-Minnesota golf courses I’d like to play next year:

• Augusta National, Georgia
• Bandon Dunes, Oregon
• Challenge at Manele, Hawaii
• Cypress Point, California
• Pebble Beach, California
• Pine Valley, New Jersey
• Shadow Creek, Nevada

This morning my oldest child and I ran the Twin Cities 5K, starting and finishing at the state capital. It was her first race of this length and we finished in just under 39 minutes. I’m such a proud running dad!

This makes me even more motivated to do well tomorrow, which is starting to look like it is going to be too hot. The blisters this morning were fine, though, so I’m in a good state of mind overall. Now I’m off to one final round of marathon golf training at Willinger’s this afternoon…DK

My wife says this website was turning into a golf blog and looking at the post count, she was right. So I have decided to limit golf posts on 7 Minute Miles and started posting on a new golf-only site:

Golfing in Minnesota

Not all of the sub-sections are ready, but the posting mechanism is in place and I have moved all of the old golf category posts from 7 Minute Miles to the new site (they remain in the archives here as well).

We own several Minnesota sports-related domains and are working on potential business models for a new Minnesota sports blog network. Golfing in Minnesota is our first foot in the water to explore what’s possible and we welcome feedback and suggestions…DK

14, 22, 27, 30, 32, PB 31

Those are the numbers I need to appear for the Powerball drawing on July 15th so I can carry out my dream of buying Willinger’s Golf Club and the surrounding land. Rumor has it that they are planning to build houses on that course, along with converting the par-4 eleventh hole to a par-3 (creating a par 71 course). If it were my course, that’s not exactly what I’d do. (more…)

Yesterday I had the pleasure of joining noted golf course architect Garrett Gill at his newest creation–The Meadows at Mystic Lake. Director of Golf Greg McKush and Course Superintendent Pete Nolan were scheduled to join us, but had to drop out before the round started (pictured above in center shot - McKush, Nolan and Gill).

I took along my camera and a selection of shots can be viewed by clicking the montage above. I noticed afterwards that my Nikon D70 is suffering from dust bunnies, so some of the shots have noticable artifacts in them that I need to correct in Photoshop.

Garrett has designed a number of my south metro favorites, including Willinger’s and Legends Club. He has another hit with The Meadows and I told him he needs to start a south metro “Garrett Gill Golf Trail” to promote these great courses. (more…)

A charity I support with complimentary web development and hosting has opened online registration for their 2006 women’s event:

• 12th Annual Tapemark Charity Women’s Golf Event

If you know anyone who would be interested in playing this one-day event on Monday, September 18th at the beautiful Southview Country Club, please send them to the link listed above. The cost is $150 per golfer and secure online credit card payment is available via PayPal.

Proceeds help support people with developmental and learning disabilities and their families…DK